Plot:

ring. Bumble, the beadle, names the boy Oliver Twist. Oliver is sent to an infant farm, run by Mrs Mann, until he is 9 years old, at which time he is returned to the workhouse. The orphans at the workhouse are starving due to callous mistreatment and cast lots to decide who among them will ask for more gruel on behalf of the group and Oliver is chosen. At supper that evening, after the normal allotment, Oliver advances to the master and asks for more. Oliver is branded a troublemaker and is offered as an apprentice to anyone willing to take him. After narrowly escaping being bound to a chimney sweep, a very dangerous business where small boys are routinely smothered being lowered into chimneys, Oliver is apprenticed to the undertaker, Sowerberry. Oliver fights with Noah Claypole, another of the undertaker's boys, after Noah mocks Oliver's dead mother. After being unjustly beaten for this offence, Oliver escapes the undertaker's and runs away to London.

An infant is born of a dying mother in a parish workhouse. Old Sally, attending the birth and death, takes from the dying w

On the outskirts on the city Oliver, tired and hungry, meets Jack Dawkins who offers a place to Thus Oliver is thrown together with the band of thieves run by the sinister Fagin. Oliver innoce with Dawkins, also known as the Artful Dodger, and Charlie Bates, another of Fagin's boys, an business when Dawkins picks the pocket of a gentleman. When the gentleman, Mr. Brownlow robbery in progress Oliver is mistaken for the culprit and, after a chase, is captured and taken injured in the chase, is cleared by a witness to the crime and is taken by the kindly Brownlow recuperate.

Oliver is kindly treated at the Brownlow home and, after a period of recuperation, is sent on an Brownlow to pay a local merchant 5 pounds and to return some books. On carrying out this charge Oliver is captured by Na and returned to Fagin's den of thieves. Mr Brownlow, thinking that Oliver has run away with his money concludes that Oliver was a thief all along. This assumption is further strengthened when Bumble the beadle, answering an ad in the paper, placed by Brownlow, for information concerning Oliver, gives a disparaging opinion of Oliver. Oliver is forced by Fagin to accompany Sikes in an attempted robbery, needing a small boy to enter a window and open the door for the housebreakers. The robbery is foiled when the house is alarmed and, in the ensuing confusion, Oliver is shot. Oliver is nursed back to health at the home of the Maylies, the house Sikes was attempting to burglarize. Oliver imparts his story to the Maylies and Doctor Losberne.

The mysterious Monks, revealed to be Oliver's half brother, teams up with Fagin in an attempt to recapture Oliver and lead crime thereby negating the unknowing Oliver's claim to his rightful inheritance which would then g

Sike's woman, Nancy, having compassion for Oliver, overhears Fagin and Monk's plan and tells R hope of thwarting the plan. Rose recruits Mr. Brownlow, Dr. Losberne, and others. Bumble the beadle has married the matron of the workhouse, Mrs. Corney. The former Mrs. Corney, attending the death of Old Sally, has taken the locket and ring that Sally had taken from Oliver's mother on her deathbed. Monks buys this locket and ring from the Bumbles hoping that in destroying it that Oliver's true identity will remain hidden. Mr. Brownlow and Rose Maylie meet Nancy on London Bridge and she tells them where to find Monks. Fagin has had Nancy followed and, enraged, tells Sikes that Nancy has betrayed them. Sikes brutally murders Nancy and flees to the country. Monks is taken by Mr. Brownlow. Fagin is captured and sentenced to be hung. Sikes, with a mob on his tail, accidentally

hangs himself trying to escape. The Bumbles are relieved of their position at the workhouse, become paupers, and are now inmates at the same workhouse they once managed. Oliver is revealed to be the illegitimate son of Edwin Leeford and Agnes Fleming. Leeford has fathered the evil Edward (Monks) through a failed former marriage. After seducing Agnes, Edwin dies, leaving a will which states that the unborn child will inherit his estate if "in his minority he should never have stained his name with any public act of dishonor, meanness, cowardice, or wrong" in the event of which all would go to Edward (Monks), hence Monk's attempt to corrupt Oliver via Fagin. Monks is given half of Oliver's inheritance by Mr. Brownlow, who had been a friend of Edwin Leeford, in the hope that he will start a new life. Monks flees to America where he quickly squanders his portion and dies in prison. Rose Maylie is revealed to be the sister of Agnes Fleming who is adopted by the Maylies after her parents die, therefore Rose is Oliver's aunt. Oliver collects his inheritance and is adopted by Mr. Brownlow. Rose marries longtime beau, Harry Maylie.

Principal Characters: Oliver Twist Bumble Mrs Corney Mrs Mann Mr Sowerberry Old Sally Mr. Brownlow Rose Maylie Harry Maylie Mrs Maylie Agnes Fleming Dr Losberne Mr Grimwig Fagin Bill Sikes Jack Dawkins Charles Bates Edwin Leeford Edward Leeford (Monks) Noah Claypole Nancy Betsy (Bet) Blathers duff

Oliver is born in a workhouse in a small town about 70 miles fromLondon, England in the early part of the 19th century. His mother dies almost immediately after his birth. Nobody knows who she was, but the doctor notices that she wasn't wearing a wedding ring (scandalous!). Oliver is brought up at a "child farm" in the country until he is about eight years old. At this point, the parish officials running the child farm decide its time for him to start working, and they send him back to the workhouse. But Oliver commits the unpardonable offense of asking for more food when he is close to starving, so the parish officials offer five pounds (a pretty good amount of money) to anyone whos willing to take Oliver on as an apprentice. The parish officials eventually send Oliver off with a coffin-maker. At the coffin-makers shop, Oliver isnt treated much better than he was at the workhouse or the child farm. The coffin-maker, Mr. Sowerberry, isnt so bad, but his wife, Mrs. Sowerberry, and the other apprentice, Noah Claypole, have it in for Oliver from the start. Oliver gets in trouble for knocking Noah down (he totally had it coming). After being abused some more, Oliver

decides to set out for London on foot. When hes almost there, he runs into an odd-looking young man named Jack Dawkins (better known as The Artful Dodger). The Dodger buys him lunch and offers to introduce him to a "gentleman" in London who will give him a place to stay. Once in London, it quickly becomes clear to the reader (but not to Oliver) that the Dodger and his friends are an unsavory bunch. The old "gentleman," Fagin, trains kids to be pickpockets, and then he sells off what they steal. But Oliver doesnt realize whats up until hes actually out with the Dodger and another one of the boys, named Charley Bates. Oliver sees the pair steal the pocket handkerchief out of a nice-looking old man's pocket. When Oliver turns to run away, the nice-looking old man sees him run and yells, "stop, thief!" Oliver is tackled in the street, but by then the nice old man (his name is Mr. Brownlow) has taken a better look at him. He realized that Oliver looks too sweet and innocent (and terrified) to be a pickpocket. In fact, Oliver isnt so much a pick-pocket as he is a very sick little boy. So Mr. Brownlow takes Oliver home and

cares for him until hes well. Unfortunately. Fagin, the Dodger, Nancy (a prostitute), and Bill Sikes (another criminal) are worried that Oliver will rat them out to the police, so they keep a watch on Brownlows house. One day, when Brownlow entrusts Oliver with some money and an errand to run in the city, Fagin and the criminals nab the poor kid once again. Nancy feels guilty and steps in to defend Oliver when Fagin tries to smack him around. Fagin keeps Oliver shut up in a dreary old house for weeks, all the while still trying to turn him into a criminal. How long can a nine-year-old hold out? Not long afterwards, Bill Sikes and another thief say they need a small boy to help them break into a house outside of London; Fagin volunteers Oliver. The plan goes awry when the servants of the house wake up and catch Oliver in the act of sneaking in. The servants dont realize that Oliver is there against his will, and was actually about to wake up the household to warn them about the robbers. So poor Oliver takes a bullet and is left behind when the rest are all running away.

Fortunately, Oliver is picked up by the people who shot him, a family that turns out to be as nice as Mr. Brownlow. They become Olivers caretakers. Meanwhile, Fagin is at his wits end wondering what happened to Oliver. He lets slip that a mysterious man named Monks offered to pay him hundreds of pounds to corrupt the young boy. Nancy pretends not to know whats going on, but secretly resolves to help Oliver, and to figure out why Monks is so keen on having Oliver turn to crime. While Fagin and the criminals distress, Oliver learns to read and write with his new friends, the Maylies. He's also reunited with his first friend, Mr. Brownlow. Fagin and his gang are still trying to track Oliver down. Monks has managed to get hold of and destroy one of the few surviving tokens of Olivers parentage. Nancy finds out about it and gets in touch with Rose Maylie to warn her about Monkss plot with Fagin. Unfortunately for Nancy, Bill Sikes (her lover) finds out about it and brutally murders her. Sikes tries to escape, but hes haunted by what hes done. Eventually, he's killed while trying to escape from the police: he falls off

a rooftop while hes trying to lower himself down, and inadvertently hangs himself. Meanwhile, Mr. Brownlow has managed to find Monks. Mr. Brownlow was an old friend of Monkss father and knows all about him. As it turns out, Monks is actually the older half-brother of Oliver, and was trying to corrupt Oliver so that hed secure the entire family inheritance himself. Monks chooses to admit to everything rather than face the police. Oliver ends up with whats left of his inheritance, is legally adopted by Mr. Brownlow, and lives down the road from the Maylies. Everybody lives happily ever after. Except for Fagin, who is arrested and hanged, and Monks, who dies in prison.